"Some Things Just Shouldn't Be Moved. . . "

Once upon a time I had a lovely backyard with a two-story playhouse. . .

It was a common occurrence to have actual adults sit comfortably in chairs enjoying the afternoon sunshine. . .

Children played happily in the grass and on the many and varied apparati that were available and not cracked or broken. . .

The same children waited anxiously for Rob to build a 3-story fort next to the lovely playhouse that they enjoyed. In the sunshine. Where the grass grew green all around. On the toys that were not broken. . .

One day the fort was completed and it was a perfect compliment to the lovely playhouse. . .

Children celebrated in the yard with the playhouse and adjacent fort. In the sunshine. Where the grass grew. And the toys were still intact. . .

Clean, cool water filled the pool . . .

The lovely deck invited guests to enjoy the shade and watch the kids splash in the clean, cool water in the unbroken pool. . .

Even the tractor tire, buried deep in the grass, invited kids to bask in the warm sunshine. . .

And then, one day, a business started. And grew. And took over. And the toys broke. And the grass died. And the playhouse and fort stood, neglected. And the sun shone everywhere but in the backyard. And I ceased to go there anymore. . . The End.

10 Years Later. . .

It's amazing the things you can sell on Craig's list. . .

Within 5 minutes of listing the neglected playhouse on Craig's List we received a phone call from a very desperate woman who NEEDED to have the house she saw in this series of pictures:

We listed it at a ridiculously low price with the stipulation that the buyer had to figure out how to move it. . . Fortunately, this desperate woman had a husband with a tractor. A BIG tractor.

Because of my aversion to the backyard, I made myself scarce under the guise of running errands and left Zach in charge of the camera . . .

I think he really managed to capture the essence of the production. . .

I only missed the first half of the move so I decided to make the best of it and take a few pictures of my own. . .

This man in the orange sweatshirt was very polite. He obviously came along to help his employer and he did his job efficiently and skillfully. He called me ma'am and went about his work with very few words. . .

I think that's why I found it so funny when he turned to me at one point and said almost under his breath, "There are some things that just shouldn't be moved."

The debris under the playhouse resembled the neighbor boys' yard in Toy Story. . .


I think I've said enough so I'll let the videos and pictures tell the rest of the story. . .

We even threw in the tire for free! Yay!

Could it be that there is a light at the end of the dark tunnel that has held my yard hostage for so many years???? Hmmmm. . .

Quiz Meet Slideshow. . .

Still working on a very LONG post about last weekend's road trip and quiz meet. It may be awhile before I have the time to say everything that needs to be said so, for now, here is my slideshow!!

We're Home!!

More pictures and details to come. . .

Road Trip!!!

We're leaving any minute for the final quiz trip of the year! These are pics that Michael took on the last quiz trip and passed on to me. . .

In the first two meets Zach came in first place in the high school division. . .

All five of these quizzers are very competitive. . .

In the third meet he tied for 2nd with the girl in the blue while the quizzer in purple took first:


Even though they all would like to be in first place, they still really encourage each other . .

Zach is hoping to go home with a blue ribbon this time. . .

Just because he memorized all of 2 Corinthians doesn't guarantee him first place. I'm sure it will help, though. . .

We've Come A Long Way, Baby. . .

I'm always amazed that Gloria's horse instructor, Kim, just casually gives me tasks to do on the farm that are way out of my comfort zone and yet she just trusts me to do them. She knows all about my fears and phobias around horses but she still sends me out to get them or move them or help someone with them. Granted, I've come a long, long, LONG way in the last two years and I almost always rise to the occasion and accomplish the tasks she gives me even though I'm usually faking it until I figure it out!

Today, however, she asked me to do something that I really didn't think I could handle. All of the horses were out in the big field after having baths that morning in preparation for Kim's big trip with many of them to Kentucky next week and they all needed to come in and get sorted into their respective gated pens. Kim had to go out to the field with Gloria and the other three students to catch the horses they would be riding so she told me she would be sending all of the horses (about 30) back my direction and all I had to do was stand between the horses and the other big field that was behind me. The idea was that the horses would see me and be too afraid to head for the field and, instead, turn into the open gate that led to all the pens where her son would shoo them all into the correct pens. So . . . my job was to just stand between 30 galloping horses and freedom. No problem. But, like I always do when she asks for help, I just nodded and smiled and went and stood right where she told me to. . .


Of course I had my Blackberry for protection so I stood my ground, took pictures and kept my mind busy thinking about what a great blog post this would be (I do that a lot. . . ) . . .


Amazingly enough, the horses saw me, got nervous and turned into the gate instead of plowing me over and heading back out into an open field. . .

This one actually thought about taking me out but decided at the last minute that I was far too frightening of an image standing there with my purple phone . . .

I have to say that I'm really glad that Kim has confidence in me. I've overcome so many things out here on the farm because of her high expectations of me.

The girls ended up having a bareback riding lesson. . .

Gloria rode Diamond again and did really well. . .

All the girls had a chance to trot with their horses sans saddle. Diamond would much rather canter so Gloria had to use every muscle she had to stay on. . .

Gloria has come a long, long, LONG way, too. . .

She's turning into a very confident rider . . .

Kim has been really good for both of us. . .

Wednesday Night Youth Group. . .

Caution: Hazards May Exist That Are Not Marked

I saw this sign today and decided that if these were placed EVERYWHERE maybe people wouldn't be so quick to sue. . .

Educational Ramblings . . .

So, I've been doing a lot of processing lately about my kids and the reasons I have chosen to educate them at home. I'm sure that our decision to enroll Gloria in public school in the fall has something to do with it. Well, today I was reminded of the reason that I decided to home school in the first place, way back in 1999 when Zach was in the first grade at Cole Valley Christian School. . .


We started out the day with a driving lesson. Zach is doing just fine as a driver except that he keeps comparing the things I'm teaching him with the things he has learned on the Wii game, Need For Speed. It has me a little worried. Anyway, I wanted to give him a chance to practice for a couple of hours today so he drove us out to Nampa to visit my parents. . .


After a short visit with my mom and dad followed by lunch at Panda, I decided to stop at a thrift store and see if there were any book treasures that I could buy cheap and sell on Amazon. As I was browsing the books, Zach found a hardbound college textbook titled, Introduction to Psychology. He made his way to a table, sat down and began to pour over it.

This is when I was so clearly reminded about the main reason I decided to home school in the first place.

When Zach was in the first grade, we would go to the library and he would make a bee-line for the non-fiction books. He knew exactly where to find the books on dinosaurs, space and volcanoes. He would take one off of the shelf , make himself comfortable and begin to read it, cover to cover. He liked school well enough but he would often tell me that he wasn't learning anything there. I really didn't see myself as capable of teaching him but I figured I could give him a stack of books and he could teach himself!! That's really not too far from the way it's worked out.


I had to laugh when we left the store with his newly purchased text book when he told me I could drive this time because he wanted to read. When we got home, he sat down on the couch and spent another 2 hours soaking up Psychology. . .

So, it's been a no-brainer for me each year on why and how I educate Zach.

Gloria, however, is a whole 'nother ballgame. . .

The funny thing is, I'm really not worried about her socially or academically. She's confident and smart and seems to learn what she needs to know right when she needs to know it. Kind of like her dad. I guess my biggest worry is that someone, somewhere along the way will decide she should be something she isn't . . . Hmmm. . . I'm still processing all of that so I'll save it for another day. . .